Pearwood should be mentioned as one much used, but not generally familiar in appearance. English pear is a decidedly rich reddish brown, almost approaching mahogany in colour. It has not, however, so decisive a grain, but it is certainly not very easy to distinguish from mahogany, especially when found, as it occasionally is, as the material for elaborately carved chairs, etc., of the style of Chippendale. We may observe that the splendid 'Tudor Cabinet' in the Victoria and Albert Museum (Plate clvi.) is said to be made chiefly of pear, but it has not the reddish appearance of the English wood, a fact which strengthens belief in the German origin of the upper part.

Plate CLVI. Cabinet, Principally Pear-Tree Inlaid Late 15th Century

Plate XCIII. I And 2 - Mahogany Chippendale Chairs

XCIII. (1) Chippendale Chair, mahogany. J. E. Clifton, Esq.

Dimensions: Height 37, Breadth 21⅛ Depth from front to back 17 inches.

(2) Chippendale Chair, mahogany. T. Garmston Hyde, Esq.

CLVI. Cabinet, principally pear-tree inlaid. Late sixteenth century or early seventeenth century. The upper part is perhaps South German, the lower possibly English. V. & A. M.

It should be obvious to any reader that to describe in words the differences between woods is practically impossible. We must confine ourselves chiefly to stating those commonly used at different dates. An inquirer will then be prepared for those which he may expect to meet with. Even with the use of samples for comparison he will find himself frequently puzzled to decide. Laburnum, for instance, is a wood used in two ways. Early in the eighteenth century it was generally cut in section so as to show the rings of the tree's growth, and thus employed makes a very effective veneer. But it was also used, later, in the ordinary way, and then appears as a comparatively quiet light brown wood resembling genuine old ' harewood' in colour, though not marked with the parallel bars which distinguish the latter material. To that we shall refer presently amongst the woods most generally used in the mahogany period.

Mahogany was originally brought from Jamaica, and in 1753 more than 500,000 feet were received from that island, but as early as 1595 it had been noticed by the carpenter on board Sir Walter Raleigh's ship for its great beauty, hardness, and durability. The name of the cabinetmaker who first made the famous candle-box, about the year 1720, for Dr. Gibbons, said to be the prototype of all mahogany furniture, was Wollaston. In the trade the wood is generally classified under the two heads of Spanish mahogany and Honduras mahogany or baywood. The former comprises the rich, solid, and heavy varieties, susceptible of a high degree of polish, and frequently showing rich wavy figuring, in which case the wood is enormously enhanced in value, and used only in the form of veneers. The finest curl and figuring of the grain of woods is found in nearly all cases at that part of the tree where the division of the limbs from the trunk commences. The best curl is found at the branching of two arms only away from the trunk, this being less confused than that caused by the divergence of several arms.

A saw-cut made vertically across the tops of the two branching limbs down into the main trunk would exhibit that parting of the ways of the grain which is so valuable for the making of veneers.

Sometimes, after having been floated in tropical seas, the wood is found badly wormed or bored. As a rule, however, this wood does not seem to be so subject to worm as oak or the lighter woods, such as beech and pine. The difference of weight between fine Spanish mahogany and the commoner kind is remarkable. I have compared chairs in the style of Chippendale of almost identical size and pattern in which the finer quality of wood can easily be detected by the greater weight. The amount of wood required for an elaborately carved Chippendale chair or mirror is considerable. The waved front of a chair frame might easily require timber five inches thick, and this liberality is a characteristic which distinguishes the genuine from its economical imitation.

The favourite wood with the eighteenth century cabinetmakers for inlaying mahogany - mostly by cross-banding or borders for table tops, drawer fronts, and carcases of chests of drawers - is satin wood. This is the product of a large tree native of India and Ceylon, though a similar wood is obtainable from another tree in the West Indies. It is said that the sheeny grain which renders satin wood so attractive is found larger in old, i.e. eighteenth century pieces of furniture, than it is nowadays. Very considerable differences of grain are to be found in satin wood, some of it being less sheeny and some less regularly marked than other specimens. Sometimes it is found used in such thin stringing lines that there is no room for its sheen to show. Only by its rather more marked small granulations is it then distinguishable from boxwood.